The following is a guest post by a buy-side analyst working in a US asset management firm. The author’s comments are in italics. I welcome your feedback in the comments:

At 19%, Congress’ job approval rating from the American people in August remains near the historical lows seen in recent months. Approval is a record-low 5% among Republicans and a lackluster 38% among Democrats.

At the August 2010 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, the Fed noted that “the pace of the recovery is likely to be more modest in the near-term than had been anticipated” and decided to reinvest the principal payments from its portfolio of MBS and agency debt in long-term Treasurys to maintain holdings of securities at current levels. The tone of the FOMC statement was more cautious than that of the previous meeting in June, reflecting the softer economic data in the intervening period. – RGE Monitor

Bloomberg’s Caroline Baum describes it, the Fed is not easing, it is avoiding a passive tightening. Of course, any discussion of whether this is easing or simply not-tightening is far less important to investors than the reality that the Fed will purchase tens of billions of bonds a quarter it was not planning to purchase the day before yesterday. – FTN Financial

Inventory Restocking Wanes – The 0.1 percent rise in wholesale inventories may signal an impending downward revision to second-quarter growth, which was fueled by the rebuilding of stocks. – Bloomberg

The former Alaska lawmaker was one of five people killed after a plane carrying nine people crashed in southwestern Alaska, a family spokesperson told the Associated Press. Stevens, 86, was the longest-serving Republican in Senate history. He narrowly lost reelection in 2008 after being convicted on corruption charges for failing to disclose campaign gifts. The charges were later dismissed.

The dollar posted its biggest one day gain against the euro in two months – Bloomberg

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